Still Struggling for Equality: Women Activism in the Trump Era

Abstract

The beginning of Donald Trump’s presidency started with largest single day protest on January 21, 2017 in Washington DC and several other cities. Trump’s sexist comments and his stance in reproductive rights had already caused concern. Dreading that their hard-earned rights would be revoked, several women groups organized an annually repeated Women’s March. These marches used similar, yet creative new strategies of the 1970s Equal Rights Amendment (ERA) rallies. Protestors wore handcrafted pink pussyhats to present a unified front, composed new songs with critical lyrics, rehearsed online, sang the lyrics together with other well-known protest songs, and carried creative banners that referred to debated policies. In time, the themes and scope of these marches grew to encompass larger domestic and international issues. A Women’s Agenda called for federal policies on ending violence against women, reproductive rights, racial justice, immigrant rights, LGBTQIA+ rights, disability rights, labor rights, civil rights and liberties, and environmental justice. Thus, during the Trump era women were reminded of their struggles in the 1970s from which they drew inspiration and motivation while forming innovative strategies to organize and create lasting influences on decision-making processes.